1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to gas turbine engine turbine blade squealer tip cooling and, more specifically, to turbine blade squealer tips cooled using cooling holes through a tip shelf.
2. Description of Related Art
Gas turbine engine turbine blades extract energy from hot combustion gas for powering the compressor and providing output power. Since the turbine blades are directly exposed to the hot combustion gas, they are typically provided with internal cooling circuits which channel a coolant, such as compressor bleed air, through the airfoil of the blade and through various film cooling holes around the surface thereof. One type of airfoil extends from a root at a blade platform, which defines the radially inner flowpath for the combustion gas, to a radially outer tip cap, and includes opposite pressure and suction sides extending axially from leading to trailing edges of the airfoil. The cooling circuit extends inside the airfoil between the pressure and suction sides and is bounded at its top by the airfoil tip cap. A squealer tip blade has a squealer tip wall extending radially outwardly from the top of the tip cap and completely around the perimeter of the airfoil on the tip cap to define a radially outwardly open tip cavity.
The squealer tip is a short radial extension of the airfoil wall and is spaced radially closely adjacent to an outer turbine shroud to provide a relatively small clearance gap therebetween for gas flowpath sealing purposes. Differential thermal expansion between the blade and the shroud, centrifugal loading, and radial accelerations cause the squealer tips to rub against the turbine shroud and abrade. Since the squealer tips extend radially above the tip cap, the tip cap itself and the remainder of the airfoil is protected from damage, which maintains integrity of the turbine blade and the cooling circuit therein.
However, since the squealer tips are solid metal projections of the airfoil, they are directly heated by the combustion gas which flows thereover. They are cooled by heat conduction with the heat then being removed by convection into the tip cap and cooling air injected into the cavity by passages through the tip. The cooling air from within the airfoil cooling circuit is used to convect heat away from tip and to inject into cavity. The squealer tip typically operates at temperatures above that of the remainder of the airfoil and can be a life limiting element of the airfoil in a hot turbine environment.
Since the pressure side of an airfoil typically experiences the highest heat load from the combustion gas, a row of conventional film cooling holes is typically provided in the pressure side of the airfoil outer wall immediately below the tip cap for providing a cooling film which flows upwardly over the pressure side of the squealer tip. U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,914 discloses a turbine blade including a hollow airfoil having a squealer tip wall extending outboard from a tip cap enclosing the airfoil. Film cooling holes extend through the junction of the tip cap below the pressure-side portion of the tip rib for discharging the coolant in a layer of film cooling air for flow along the exposed pressure side of the squealer tip wall. It is difficult to entrain the cooling air flow in a boundary layer along the exposed pressure side of the squealer tip wall. Often the film cooling holes will direct the cooling air to impinge on the pressure side of the squealer tip wall and a large portion will bounce off and not be entrained in the boundary layer.
However, cooling of the squealer wall is limited in effectiveness, and thermal gradients and stress therefrom are created which also affect blade life. The exposed squealer wall runs hotter than the airfoil sidewalls with the tip cap therebetween running cooler. Tip cooling must therefore be balanced against undesirable thermal gradients.